Do you want to be safe in your dealings online, and you already know not to make your password “password,” use the same password on every site, and all the other password security tips?  Well, researchers at Georgia Tech have decided that when it comes to passwords, 12 characters are far superior to 8.  They say that the era of the 12-character password will soon be upon us, if it’s not already.

When using an array of computers running powerful graphic cards, it took the team an average of two hours to crack an 8-character password.  Using the same powerful (yet not Cray-level powerful) arrays, a 12-character password would take 17,134 years to hack into.  Unless, of course, you do something foolish like pick a 12-letter word from the dictionary for your password.

There’s always the problem of remembering your 12-character password, but if you want to be secure, you’d best be as secure as possible.

There’s no real magical solution to the problem of online security.  You can change your password monthly, use completely random combinations of characters, and every other security tip you can think of, and your information is only as secure as the servers on which it is stored.  Your safety really depends on the safety precautions taken by everyone else in the information chain, so if you feel comfortable with your 8-character password, stick with it.